Their King
by That Gryffindor Flame
Summary: When Arthur faces Queen Annis, and her druid Army, he learns that she obeys one other King beside her now deceased husband, namely, Emrys.


Queen Annis looked at Arthur with hate, as the army of Camelot faced the Warrior Queen's. "I obey only one," She snarled, "I used to obey my Kings, both of my Kings, now there is only one!"

"Who is this other King?" Arthur asked,

"I have never met him, never seen him, and never heard him. I don't even know if he exists," Annis said, "My kingdom is a magical one. Everyone, in my army, that you see here, is a druid. And therefore, we obey the druid king." 

"There is a druid king?" Arthur asked incredulously, "Who?"

"His name is Emrys." Annis said, importance in her voice. "He is the one who will return magic to the land and will help the druids be free, instead of hunted. Only he can call off this battle. Only he can tell the druids what to do. He is also the one, who will help you survive, Arthur Pendragon."

"Wait, if this… Emrys," 

"King Emrys." Annis snapped,

"_King_ Emrys, if he wants to help me stay alive, and you obey him, why are you trying to kill me?"

"My lord has not told me not to stop this battle. If he shows himself, tells me to leave you be, if my King Emrys tells me that, I will do as he asks."

Merlin gulped, and Gwaine looked at him, leaning over and whispering, "_King_ Emrys of the druids?"

"Yeah… Did I forget to tell you that?" Merlin whispered back, "Sorry."

"Are you going to stop this battle or what?"

"I will have to reveal myself, to Arthur and Camelot."

"Better hurry up, that Queen looks like she means business." Gwaine said quietly. Merlin gulped again and walked to stand by Arthur, everyone looked at him, but he looked at Arthur.

"I'm really sorry." He whispered, before facing the queen. "Queen Annis."

"Yes?"

Merlin muttered a few words, and suddenly a large staff was in his hand, a blue glowing orb on the top. He was wearing a green robe and his eyes were glowing gold. When they went back to blue; a small white dragon landed on his shoulder, which he stroked on the head.

Annis gasped, "You?" She asked, "I mean… My lord." She curtsied, and the rest of the army followed suit. Soon, each and every man in the army was on his knee. Merlin smiled,

"Queen Annis, could you please call off your army? I would prefer Arthur not to die so early into his rein." He said, and then sighed, "Though I do understand your need for revenge."

"Of course, my King." 

"Call me Emrys or Merlin, I don't mind. Most druids have a thing against calling me Merlin though." Merlin shook his head, "So call me Emrys."

"Of course, Emrys, it is an honour to meet you, and I will call the army off immediately."

"Thanks," Merlin grinned, "Now, if you don't mind, I have a lot of explaining to do, and in about three seconds I might have a sword against my neck."

"If King Arthur dares but a sword to your neck my lord, I can assure you myself and my army will make him wish he was never born." Queen Annis said politely. And Merlin laughed.

"That's ok, Annis, here, I would like you to meet someone." He signalled to the small dragon on his shoulder. "This is White Sun, he is one of the only two dragons left on this earth. White Sun, this is Queen Annis."

The Dragon squealed a bit. "No, she is no relation to Uther. No, she isn't going to hurt you; she's magical like you and me. I am the only dragon lord, so no she can not understand you, but I can translate." He grinned at Annis, "He's still young and not as wise as his Uncle, Kilgarra. Not as big either. But he says hello and it's nice to meet you."

"Is that a real dragon?" Queen Annis asked, walking forward, "May I, Emrys?"

"Of course." Merlin answered, and Annis stroked the dragon on the head. "As I said, he's still a youngling, but you're growing, aren't you, White Sun?" The dragon squealed, "He likes you." Merlin smiled, and Annis grinned widely.

"My army!" She called to the men behind her, "Our King Emrys has called this battle off! It seems he does not want his protected to die so early into his rein, back to the camp." She turned to Merlin and curtsied again, "It was an honour to meet you, King Emrys. We will have left by nightfall, I hope we meet again, and if you ever need an army."

"I will bear that in mind, Annis." Merlin smiled, "I take it Camelot has earned an ally?"

Annis nodded, "If ever you need a druids help, my King, you may ask for ours at any point in time. It would be an honour to help you win a battle."

"Thank you."

"Emrys!" A young boy broke through the crowd and Annis just managed to catch him before he flew into Merlin,

"You do not try and hug our King without permission!" She scolded the druid boy, but Merlin smiled.

"Oh, that is quite ok Annis." He said, "I know this boy, how are you Mordred?" He asked, as the boy broke free and hugged him.

"I knew you wouldn't let the battle go on Emrys!" Mordred said, grinning, "I knew it!"

"Indeed you did, Mordred." Merlin laughed, "When did you join a druids army? Huh? I never knew this existed, how did you? If you say Morgana told you about it I will not be pleased!"

"You know Morgana?" Annis cut in, "Is she one of your protected?" 

Merlin looked up sharply, "Any druid is one of my protected, I am sworn to help and heal and look after all druids. But if one starts work for Morgana, he or she is an instant enemy of mine, and no longer protected by me."

Annis nodded, "She is hell bent on destroying Camelot." 

"I know," Merlin said sadly, "It doesn't help that in my prophecy, it says I will be the one to…"

"Destroy her?" Mordred suggested, "Kill her? End her life? Demolish her existence? Injury her to the point of no –"

"Yes, Mordred, you could of just said 'kill her' and that would have been fine."

"Sorry, My lord." Mordred apologised,

Merlin sighed and ruffled his hair, "That's fine, now, I really do have to go, but I will see you again, won't I?"

"Of course…" Mordred said sadly, "On that day…" 

"Do you want to?" Merlin whispered to him, bending to his height, "Do you want to fulfil it?"

"No." Mordred whispered, "Of course not."

"Then we will find a way around it, ok?" He looked at Annis, "Could you please look after Mordred, Annis? He has a terrible destiny that he is meant to fulfil and I need to find away around it, before its too late." 

"Of course, but has the prophecy ever been wrong before? Can you change the future?" Annis asked,

"Well," Merlin grinned, "There was _nothing_ in that damned prophecy about this battle. There was nothing about Lancelot dieing, and there certainly wasn't anything about me being the brother of the Lady of the Lake, so I think we should be ok."

Mordred laughed, "I knew those rumours were true, about our Princess being the gate keeper of Avalon. What's her name?" 

"My sister? Her name is Freya." Merlin smiled, "Unfortunately killed by Prince Arthur Pendragon." He rolled his eyes, "But I will see her in Avalon, and we will make up for lost family time then, so all is good."

"King Emrys and Princess Freya." Mordred smiling, wiping his eyes, "At least the druids have security in those rumours now."

"Yes, Mordred, but you need to go with Queen Annis now, she will look after you, and I shall see you soon."

The army dispersed into the distance gradually, and Camelot's men watched in silence as they left, before there was simply an empty field. That was when Arthur drew his sword and pointed it at Merlin,

"You are the King of the Druids?" He yelled, "Betrayal much!"

"Arthur calm down." Merlin groaned, making the cloak and the staff disappear and the dragon flew into the sky. "Look, I am sorry for lying to you, yes I am the King of the Druids, no I am not working with Morgana, I hate her as much as you, probably more after all the times she has tried to kill me, my Druid name is Emrys. Any other questions?"

"When did you start practising sorcery?"

"I'm not a sorcerer, I never practised magic." Merlin explained patiently, "I was born with magic, hence the whole King of the Druids, I am a warlock."

"Who's Freya?"

Merlin's eyes grew cold and dark as he stared at Arthur, then lightened again, "She is my younger sister, a beautiful woman. But she was killed." 

"By me?"

"Yes, by you, you killed her." Merlin sighed, "But I do not blame you for it, nor have I held a grudge. You were trying to protect your people, that is all."

Arthur lowered his sword, then raised it again, "Have you ever, and tell me truthfully, used your magic against Camelot." 

Merlin's eyes once again grew cold, "If you have even thought that I would, then I do not know why you called me friend, because you obviously know nothing about me."

"So that's a no?"

"That's a no."

"Sire," Sir Leon and the other knights of the round table stepped forward (Percival, Gwaine, Elyan), "With all due respect, sorcerer –"

"Warlock."

"Warlock, King, druid, sorcerer, whatever! It's Merlin, and I think we all agree… Well it's _Merlin_!"

"What does that mean?" Merlin asked defensively,

"It means," Leon stressed, "That anyone would be mad to accuse Merlin of betrayal, especially you Sire, again, with all due respect, Merlin has been with you through just about everything in the past four years. If I was him, I would find it very offending you would accuse him of betrayal."

"Trust me, I am offended." Merlin frowned, "I've been saving your life, and everyone's in Camelot, hell, I even saved Morgana's life back in the day, since the day I arrived in Camelot, and I get accused of _betrayal._ Thanks, thanks a lot." He ran off, up the hillside and back to the camp, where he collapsed on his sleeping bag, eyes full of tears, and despair.

It was much later, that footsteps sounded and someone came running into the camp. Gwaine took one look at Merlin, and gave him a hug, which made Merlin burst into tears once again.

Percival, Leon and Elyan, the three other Knights of the Round Table, soon followed and Merlin managed to choke out, "I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry!"

"It's ok, Merlin." They said, coming to join the hug, Percival ruffled Merlin's hair and smiled. "It doesn't really make sense, you know, you're extremely clumsy and then you're a king."

"I usually use magic to stop me being so clumsy." Merlin laughed, rubbing his eyes, "Look, I need to get out of here by the time Arthur comes, so I don't get executed. So, I better pack."

"Don't bother Merlin," Arthur drawled, as he walked from the hillside path, "You and I need to have a little talk, don't we?"

Merlin gulped, as Arthur sat by him and the knights, "Merlin, please, I just want to know what you meant by saving my life." Arthur whispered softly, and Merlin nodded.

He told them about the snakes and the shield, about Nimueh and the questing beast, how he had let the dragon free and everything in between. He told them everything, start to finish, including what happened to Uther, where Arthur could be seen slowly inching for his sword, Merlin wouldn't know, he told that story in pain and with closed eyes.

"Bloody hell Merlin, don't try do that." Elyan groaned, clutching his head.

"What?"

"Give so much information in the same two hours that is so hard to process."

Merlin shrugged, "Sorry."

Arthur sighed, "I am torn between killing you because you killed my father, and giving you a hug to say thank you for saving my life."

"I'll have the hug? Plus, Morgana put the charm on your father that reversed my healing magic, I was just trying to help." Merlin told him,

"Ok, fair enough." Arthur grinned, shuffling over and giving Merlin a hug. "Thank you, Merlin."

"Does this mean I won't be executed?" Merlin said weakly,

"It means you won't be executed." 

"You can't execute him anyway!" Gwaine grinned, "He's a bloody king! He's gotta whole army back there, an army of _druids_! Because he's their KING."

"Oh, shut up Gwaine," Merlin groaned, "I am sorry I didn't tell you I was the King of the druids. I am sorry I didn't tell you I was a dragon lord. I am sorry I didn't tell you about my fate to kill Morgana. I. AM. SORRY."

Gwaine laughed, and ruffled the younger boys hair, "Next time, inform me that my best friend is a King, I will know in advance that if I hurt him I get killed by his druid army. Get this, my best friend's a king, both my best friends are Kings!"

"YES GWAINE! ME AND ARTHUR ARE BOTH KINGS! SHUT UP!" Merlin shouted, covering his eyes. Arthur grinned and wound an arm around his shoulders, and Merlin collapsed into him. "Make him shut up." Merlin mumbled,

"Physically and mentally impossible." Arthur replied, "So… How does everyone feel about me lifting the ban on magic?"


End file.
